The Global Enabling Trade Report 2016

This bi-annual report, published by the World Economic Forum and the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation, is a benchmark for governments looking to boost growth and development through trade. It captures data on the efficiency, transparency and expense associated with importing and exporting goods.

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The 2016 report finds that governments are making slow progress in improving customs and borders procedures, with many small businesses and entrepreneurs cut off from the global trading system as a result. In fact, the performance gap on border administration between high and low-income economies has widened slightly in the past two years.

Reforming border administration remains a largely untapped tool with high potential to drive inclusive growth. The biggest beneficiaries of reforms would be small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which typically lack the resources to comply with complex, expensive or time-consuming measures.

The report finds that countries’ performance on border administration is strongly correlated with the level of development but there are several bright exceptions in Sub-Saharan Africa, with landlocked countries such as Botswana and Rwanda jumping ahead of South Africa in their regional rankings. In contrast, most commodity-rich countries underperformed their income group in border administration.

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